Blondie Draw Latitude’s Biggest Uncut Arena Crowd

Bursting at the seams, with the overspill crowd stretching as far back as the Obelisk arena – where Nick Cave‘s Grinderman had just started belting out their shamanic swamp-rock – the Uncut arena hosted its penultimate Latitude show as Blondie delivered a short but sweet greatest hits package to an adoring audience.

The still iconic Deborah Harry took the adulation in her stride, as you would expect of a dance-rock veteran.

Despite heavy rainfall, festival-goers outside the marquee joined the party as enthusiastically as those lucky enough to be inside. “Heart of Glass” provoked a mass sing-along, and Harry and fellow founder members Chris Stein and Clem Burke eased their way through the old-pro gears, albeit at a somewhat statelier pace than they did in their heyday.

With Tindersticks following Blondie, and Interpol bringing the curtain down on the festival at the Obelisk arena shortly after “The Tide is High” completed Deborah Harry and co’s set, the issue of running orders and scheduling decisions raised its head.

For, if any of the big hitters among the Sunday acts were the final day’s true star attraction – in terms of drawing power, if nothing else – that accolade surely belonged to Blondie.

Blondie’s full set list was:

Hanging On the Telephone
One Way or Another
Picture This
Heart of Glass
Necessary Evil
Maria
Rapture
Call Me
Atomic
The Tide is High